New England Revolution vs New York City FC: Preview

The Revs should be feeling well rested following their Week 3 bye and will be looking to extend their unbeaten run at Gillette Stadium to ten games. They beat Colorado Rapids 2-1 last time out, giving Brad Friedel his first coaching win in dramatic style, with Chris Tierney scoring the winning free-kick in stoppage time.

The hosts opened the season with a 2-0 road loss at Philadelphia in which both centre-backs were sent off. But both Antonio Delamea and Claude Dielna return from suspension and will be available again here.

New York City have made a perfect start to the 2018 season. They are 3-0-0 for the first time in franchise history and come into this one off the back of a 2-0 win over Orlando City last weekend. That win was all the more impressive given the number of absences Patrick Vieira had to deal with.

NYCFC midfielder Maxi Morales (10) celebrates a second-half goal in an MLS game between NYCFC and Orlando City SC at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y., USA, on Saturday, March 17, 2018. Photo: Ashley Marshall

Selecting a team doesn’t get any easier this week though, as David Villa is still a doubt with a calf strain, while Alex Ring and Rodney Wallace are away on international duty. NYCFC have scored two goals in each of their three games so far, conceding just once. They will be looking to further stamp their authority down when they travel to New England here.

This will be the 10th MLS clash between the Eastern Conference rivals. The Revs have won four of the previous nine games, with NYCFC taking three victories. The Revs won the most recent meeting 2-1 back in October at Gillette Stadium. NYCFC had won by the same scoreline at Yankee Stadium two months before that, while they also played out a 2-2 draw in New York last June.

New England Revolution vs New York City FC: Key Stats

New England Revolution’s MLS form: L/W

NYCFC’s MLS form: W/W/W

Key stat: There has been a red card in each of the four games between these two sides at Gillette Stadium. The Revs have picked up one of those. But NYCFC have had a man sent off in three of their four trips to Foxborough.

New England Revolution vs New York City FC: Prediction

New England Revolution 2-2 NYCFC: There are usually goals when these two sides face off. The Revs should be fresh following their bye week and have had a long time to prepare for a dangerous NYCFC side. The worry for Vieira’s men is that David Villa may miss out again here, while the absence of Alex Ring in midfield will be noticeable. Both sides will fancy their chances but it’s hard to see NYCFC getting beaten. Score draw.

New England Revolution vs Montreal Impact: Preview

New England Revolution take on Montreal Impact on Saturday night in pivotal clash in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt. The two sides come into the weekend separated by four points but just one point in the standings. However, neither are currently above the red line.

The Revs have been inconsistent all season. They haven’t put more than two consecutive wins together all season. But they do remain a force at home.

New England have won their last four MLS outings at Gillette Stadium, scoring 12 goals and conceding just three in that run. They come into the weekend as favourites to make it five-straight home victories. If they are going to make the playoffs, they’re going to do so by relying on their home form.

Montreal looked to be flying until back-to-back home defeats to Toronto and Chicago halted them. They had won four-straight games before the clash with rivals Toronto two weeks ago. Chicago then added to their woes with a surprise 1-0 win at Stade Saputo last week.

The Impact know they are still in a strong position to make the postseason heading into the weekend. They are six points behind Columbus in fourth, but have two games in hand over them. If they can avoid defeat to New England, they will ensure they are looking above, rather than behind for the rest of the way.

It was unthinkable that Montreal would be in the playoff conversation heading into August. They had only recorded six wins from their first 20 games before that four-match win streak sparked them into life.

There is a worry that the wind has been taken out of their sails after their last two games. But they have a great chance to show their fighting spirit at New England on Saturday.

This will be the first of two meetings between the two sides this season. They will face up again on the final weekend of the season in Montreal in what is likely to be an even more important clash.

New England Revolution vs Montreal Impact: Team News

New England will be without Kelyn Rowe once again as he remains out for a few more weeks. Diego Fagundez is expected to be “in the mix”, according to Jay Heaps after missing last week’s win over Orlando.

Montreal Impact are still without long-term absentee Ambroise Oyongo. They will also be without Deian Boldor after the Romanian defender picked up a red card on his MLS debut last weekend.

New England Revolution vs Montreal Impact: Key Points

NE Revolution’s last five: L/W/L/L/W

Montreal’s last five: W/W/W/L/L

Key Stat: Both New England and Montreal have gone 12 consecutive MLS games without drawing. The Revs have 5-7-0 since their last draw on June 1. Montreal have gone 6-6-0 since their last league draw on June 18.

Key Player: Kei Kamara – The New England striker scored the first MLS hat-trick of his career in the 4-0 win over Orlando last time out. It’s incredible to think he had to wait that long, but the powerful frontman should be in full confidence on Saturday. Montreal haven’t kept a clean sheet in three games and Kamara will fancy his chances of adding to his tally.

New England Revolution vs Montreal Impact: Prediction

New England Revolution 3-1 Montreal Impact – Recent form suggests this is highly unlikely to end all square. Neither side has drawn a game for three months and both know they can’t afford to settle for a point. New England are a much stronger force at home. They’ve won four on the spin at Gillette Stadium and will be confident of making that five. Montreal looked to be in great form but back-to-back losses has halted momentum. The Revs can move to within a point of the Impact with a win, and that’s how we see this one going.

The win moved the Revs onto 16 points and although they sit eighth in the Eastern Conference, they are tied on points with three other clubs above them.

Seattle opened the scoring after just seven minutes as youngster Aaron Kovan put the Western Conference outfit in front. However, that lead lasted just 17 minutes as Lee Nguyen tucked a penalty past Stefan Frei to level the score in the 24th minute.

New England then completed the comeback as rookie striker Femi Hollinger-Janzen scored his second professional goal in two weeks just ten minutes before the end, leaving Seattle to cope with a third-straight loss.

Check out some photos from Saturday’s game below, courtesy of Prost Amerika’s Kristian Cardillo.

New England Revolution are sitting 7th in the Eastern Conference. They come into this tie off the back of their 2-2 draw with Orlando.

The Revs have only won once all season and are struggling to turn draws into wins. They are the only side who aren’t bottom of either conference to have only won one game.

Jay Heaps will be working on New England’s lack of wins but he could be in a far more difficult position, his side have only lost one in their last seven.

New England are yet to win away from home this season and this would be the perfect place to break that trend. They appear to be lacking a bit of confidence but have the foundation to turn things around.

Team News

LA Galaxy have four injury concerns. Robbie Keane, Leonardo, Alan Gordon and Steven Gerrard are all doubts. Ashley Cole is suspended following his red card last time out, while Jelle Van Damme is one booking away from suspension.

New England Revolution have five injury concerns. Steve Neumann, Chris Tierney and Charlie Davis are all expected to miss out. Teal Bunbury and Je-Vaughun Watson are both doubts.

Key Points

LA Galaxy’s last five: D/D/W/W/D

New England Revolution’s last five: D/D/L/D/D

Key Stat: Fortress – Galaxy have only lost one of their last 13 home games in Major League Soccer (W10, D2)

Key Player: Giovani Dos Santos – LA Galaxy’s Mexican star has scored four goals in his last three appearances.

Score Prediction

LA Galaxy 3-1 New England Revolution – Galaxy to brush aside New England and continue their winning streak. Their goalscoring form will give them much confidence against the Revs who will can’t find a win.

Match Preview

The Revs have not won in their last six and last weekend’s 2-0 loss to the Portland Timbers was their second defeat in four games. They were on a fine run of form heading into May but have fallen away in recent weeks.

Jay Heaps will be urging his players to get all three points on Saturday night against a Chicago Fire side that are sitting in ninth place in the Eastern.

New England are still in second but are now seven points off top spot DC United, with a game in hand, and need to start making ground on their rivals.

The Fire have lost back-to-back games for the third time this season coming into this one after last week’s losses to DC United and Orlando City.

The Orlando loss was hard to take as they blew a 2-1 lead in the space of four minutes at the end of the game in front of their own fans.

Defender Adailton became the first player in MLS history to score two own goals in one game in that loss – a symbol of just how unfortunate the Fire have been so far.

Chicago are now just three points above bottom placed NYCFC and need to start finding more points. They have yet to win on the road this season and have their work cut out if they are to take something out of New England this weekend.

They did win at Gillette Stadium for the first time since 2010 last season and need to try and repeat that feat again a year later.

Team News

Darrius Barnes remains a long-term injury worry, while Jermaine Jones is a doubt for the game as he is struggling with a groin problem. Juan Agudelo may return from international duty with the USMNT in time to feature but is unlikely to start.

Frank Yallop will be without Patrick Nyarko, who is still out with a torn ACL, while Designated Players David Accam (Ghana) and Shaun Maloney (Scotland) are away on international duty along with Joevin Jones (Trinidad & Tobago).

Key Points

New England Revolution’s last five: D/L/D/D/L

Chicago Fire’s last five: D/D/W/L/L

Key Stat: New England are unbeaten in their last 18 home games in MLS.

Key Player: Scott Caldwell – The midfielder has been in solid form so far this season and will look to make the difference from deep on Saturday night.

Score Prediction

New England Revolution 2-1 Chicago Fire – The losses of Maloney and Accam will hurt Chicago and New England will look to capitalise on that this weekend. Neither side are in good form and so it should be a cagey affair but the Revs’ fine home record could be enough to see them over the line.

But that has not happened and the closure of the January transfer window on Monday night means that the chances of a move going through now are significantly slimmer. That’s because clubs are much less likely to invest in new signings outside of transfer windows in Europe.

As Soares is a free agent he could still join Hellas Verona this month up to the end of February if a deal can be renegotiated, but Rafael Marquez could be the man standing in the way of the 26-year-old’s Italian job.

Former Barcelona and New York Red Bulls centre-back Rafael Marquez currently plays for Verona after joining back in August but has a mind boggling clause in his contract that could be the reason behind the stalling of Soares’ deal.

The clause reportedly states that Marquez would be given a significant pay rise if the Italian club were to sign another defender. So if AJ Soares were to join, Verona would have to trigger that clause.

However, the club did bring in right-back Eros Pisano on Monday on loan for the season. The clause in Marquez’ contract has not been triggered so either it doesn’t exist, or the fact that Pisano was signed on loan means it doesn’t count. There is also the possibility that because he is a right-back, the clause may come into play if a central defender joins them.

Either way, Soares does not look like he will be moving to Hellas Verona after all and a return to MLS with the New England Revolution could be on the cards.

The Revs still retain his MLS rights so he would be automatically re-added to their squad if he were to return to America for 2015.

How much of a boost would AJ Soares’ return be for New England Revolution?

Teal Bunbury will be staying with the New England Revolution for the foreseeable future after agreeing to a new contract with the 2014 MLS Cup runners-up as his contract had ended at the turn of 2015.

Bunbury made more appearances with the Revs in 2014 (31) than in any of his previous four campaigns in Kansas City and recorded more assists (6) than in any of his previous seasons too and thrived as a winger.

He was a real factor in New England’s impressive playoff run to the MLS Cup Final as he played in all five games, scoring two and picking up two assists and he is hoping to build on a solid campaign with Jay Heaps and the Revs this year.

Teal Bunbury was a star for the Revs in 2014

“As a player you always want to play somewhere where the organization wants you to be there,” he told mlssoccer.com. “I felt that [from New England] throughout this whole process.

“I want to be somewhere where I know what I’m going to get from the guys. I know that they’re going to be able to push me to be the best that I can be and vice versa. Knowing that we have unfinished business was definitely a factor for me.”

The unfinished business he is referring to was that MLS Cup Final loss to the LA Galaxy in extra-time and the Revs will hope to go one better come December this year.

Bunbury was an integral part of an exciting attacking Revolution side last year and expect them to be just as dangerous come the start of play this year.

The forward almost single-handedly changed the MLS Cup Final when he entered the frame for Charlie Davies. And although the Revs lost in the end, Mullins showed what he is capable of with some good hold up play and created space to get other players in the game.

The 22-year-old netted four times in all competitions last term and although not prolific, he showed in glimpses the potential he has in his rookie season.

The draft was hard on New England, but it would appear they had done as much as possible to cover themselves from losing key players and given the nature of the draft it just seems as if it was something they had to accept.

Mullins will learn a lot from his new teammates David Villa and Frank Lampard, and the move will continue to improve him as an up and coming young player.

The service from Lampard and finishing ability of Villa are areas he will benefit from no end, and playing alongside the Spaniard will be particularly crucial for his development.

The Revs will no doubt be disappointed to see him go, but couldn’t afford to lose any top performing midfielders given that their preferred system is 4-2-3-1. Bunbury is a more rounded and versatile player than Mullins at this moment in time, and Charlie Davies is the main striker and is the one who can create the unexpected.

Do you think New England were right to leave Patrick Mullins unprotected for the Expansion Draft?

The 2014 campaign was a hugely successful one for the New England Revolution in many ways. They won more games in a season than ever before, and saw the highest ever attendances during their MLS Playoff run to the MLS Cup Final. The Revs might have lost in the final but the franchise will be delighted with the progress made and things look very good for 2015 and beyond.

Lee Nguyen was inspirational all season and the arrival of USMNT star Jermaine Jones transformed the Revs season at the perfect time. Next year should see the team improve further.

Winning the Eastern Conference Championship against the New York Red Bulls has to go down as the best moment for the Revs in 2014. Their sublime playoff run saw them destroy the Columbus Crew and beating the Red Bulls over two legs saw them deservedly crowned Eastern Conference Champions.

Worst Moment

Losing in the MLS Cup Final was disappointing but not the worst moment of the season by any stretch. Losing eight games in a row in the middle of the season was a real bad spell for the club and they did well to turn things around later on.

Lee Nguyen – Sensational. Anyone who watched the Revs this season does not need to be told how good the playmaker was. He ended the season with a staggering 20 goals, including those scored in the playoffs and missed just two games all season. Nguyen was rewarded for his efforts with a call-up to the USMNT squad for the friendly against Colombia in London and he looks set for another huge campaign next time around.

Biggest Win

New England Revolution 5-0 Seattle Sounders (May 11 2014)

Biggest Defeat

LA Galaxy 5-1 New England Revolution (July 17 2014)

What to improve for the 2015 season…

There is not much that needs to be drastically changed in New England for next season. The way they ended the 2014 regular season and approached the playoffs deserves great credit and if they can pick up where they left off they will quickly be labelled as MLS Cup favourites for 2015. Jay Heaps has his side set up well, and has the right personnel in to make another charge at the MLS Cup next term.

They will be disappointed with the mid-season slump and consistency will be important this time around. They only won one of their opening five last season so it will be vital that they hit the ground running and make it last.